Shrunk
by SkyWolf25
Summary: Akai Shuichi shrinks into a 7 year-old kid. With Conan, he starts to hunt down the Black organization.
1. Chapter 1 (revised)

**A/N.**

**Hello people! This is my first fanfiction! Nice to meet you! I'm Silver Bullet-Wolf25, or SkyWolf25. That name is too long, so just call me sky or wolf.**

**Please R&R and tell me what's good/bad, and give me some suggestions on how the fic should be written. This fanfic will be dry of romance, and there will be no 'yaoi' or anything like that. I prefer action and fantasy and mysteries :D. I will follow the original pairings. Oh, and I try to follow the character's original personality as much as possible, though I'm not very good at it yet. I will improve!**

**Me: Now let's start!**

**Conan: I'm sorry. The writer is too stupid to say that she doesn't own anything in Detective Conan.**

**Me: Oops! Okay, Disclaimer: Silver Bullet-Wolf25 doesn't own anything in Detective Conan. This applies to all chapters.**

**Conan: If she has, I wouldn't be as smart.**

**Me: …. Guilty as charged…**

**Now here we go!**

**"Talking"**

**'Thinking'**

**A/N: Author Notes**

*****= time change**

* * *

><p>Okiya Subaru entered the 2nd floor of the department store, apparently looking casually around for things to buy. He looked like any other customer in the store, but he actually had another reason: He was looking for the Black Organization members. He had overheard a FBI phone conversation by bugging the phones that the B.O. members were going to be there to get something, and had come to the store to investigate.<p>

'Using a department store for a place to deal? They must be getting bolder.'

Just then, he spotted a pair of suspicious people hurrying into a room. 'There they are,' he thought, smirking, and he started to approach the room cautiously. Unfortunately, the department store staff members found them first.

"This is a room for staff members only. So please go out- what are those? !"

Veteran B.O. members would have found a way to weasel out of the situation, but the members who came to the store were no veteran members. In fact, they were new members who didn't even have code names. So they did the only thing dangerous yet inexperienced criminals caught red-handed in a crime would do; they panicked and became violent. The new members took out their guns and some other weapons, which had been craftily hidden, and cried out

"We have bombs and guns! Approach us, and we shoot!"

The customers who had been near froze in their tracks. The staff members screamed. One of the BO members stepped up to the staff members and ordered something. The staff members nodded with a scared expression, and went somewhere. A little while later, an announcement rang out.

_Everybody please gather on the 2nd floor. Everybody please gather on the 2nd floor._

Sometime after the announcement, the bewildered and scared customers and staff members gathered on the 2nd floor. The B.O. members checked (made the staff check) that everybody was there, and started a discussion among them. The gathered people started to talk among themselves as well. A man took out his phone and started to call the police.

BANG!

The startled man stared at his now smashed phone. Everybody went silent, shocked by what had just happened. A blond B.O. member glared threateningly at him, his gun still raised.

"Next time any of you try to call the police, the bullet will end up in your head."

The customers gasped and started to talk more worriedly. Subaru just smirked and pushed up his glasses.

'I get it. Their original plan was to gather everybody on the second floor and escape without further trouble, but since the boss will certainly kill them if they returned after creating a chaos with no benefits, they are trying to make up a plan to gain something. After that, they will leave without leaving a trace.'

His left hand gripped his gun, which he had hidden inside the inner pocket of his coat.

'But I won't let that happen, will I?' Thinking this, he crouched down a little and handed his phone to a boy nearby who looked about 14."Call the police." he quietly told the teenager. The boy, scared, glanced at the B.O. members, who were still talking about what to do.

"It's okay. I'll make a diversion so that they won't spot you."

The boy still looked a lot scared, but after a moment he nodded with a look of determination. Subaru smiled reassuringly at him."Fear of death is worse than death itself*. Don't get scared, and you will be the hero who bravely called the police and saved the hostages." He said.

Straightening up again, he raised his right hand and said "Um, excuse me." The B.O. members turned to stare incredulously at the calm cherry-blond man who had the guts to address them. Subaru lowered his right hand and pulled out his left hand. In his left hand was the gun he had hidden in his pocket. Everybody looked surprised. Subaru smiled innocently(something he had worked on for a while) and said, "I think you dropped this."

"Why, you-" the blond member raised his gun and tried to shoot Subaru, but Subaru was quicker: He shot the gun out of the B.O. member's hands before he had a chance to react. He glanced behind to see that the teenager was talking to the police during the chaos. He didn't look scared now, only determined. Subaru smiled slightly, reminded of a certain 7year-old kid in glasses who had helped him and the FBI-

BANG!

A bullet grazed Subaru's arm. The crowd screamed. 'Kuso! I should have paid more attention!' The hostages moved farther away to escape from the bullets. 'I can't fight here. Those people might get hurt.' His eyes spotted the staircase. 'I'll have to lead them down.'

He fired a few more bullets in the direction of the B.O. members (all of them grazed or ended upin their legs/arms) and started to move slowly towards the staircase.

"He's trying to escape by using the staircase!" A spiky-haired member shouted, and all of them started to run towards him, firing bullets. They followed him quickly down the staircase. Subaru had been grazed by bullets and been bruised in a lot of places, but he now had a clear shot without any obstacles, such as screaming hostages. He fired a few more times, and allof them pierced the B.O. members' legs, arms, or shoulders(he wasn't aiming on killing them), but his hair was getting in the way, making it harder to aim properly.

'Might as well show who I am. They won't know me since they're new and since Gin thinks I'm dead.'

Making a decision, he ripped off his mask and fake hair, and instead of Okiya Subaru, a normal engineering student, there stood Akai Shuichi, the silver bullet FBI agent who had been thought to be dead. The B.O. members were shocked and froze, but they didn't seem to recognize him, just as he had expected. He burned up the mask and fake hair using his lighter(it caught fire and burned up easily), put on his signature black knit hat, smirked, and said

"It's show time."

In 5 seconds, all of the BO members were down. Akai calmly surveyed the result. Everybody was groaning in pain because of the bullets lodged firmly in their bodies. 'That was easy. Now to wait for the police-' he whipped around to see 20 more new BO members coming down from the staircase. 'There were more? The organization usually doesn't recruit large numbers at once!' He easily shot 10 of them down, quickly firing and dodging. He aimed the gun at the 11th BO member and the pulled the trigger, but all that came out was a small click. 'damn! I'm out of bullets!'

The newbie BO members, who had been cowering before, now smirked triumphantly and aimed. Akai cursed again, feinted to the left, then sprinted to the right, leading them to a maze of shops and depriving them of a clear shot. They became separated. Akai spotted one of the BO members with his back to him, and kicked his head before he could turn around, knocking him down.

He reached for the unconscious man's gun, but BO number 12 shot the gun, damaging it and making it useless. 12 tried to shoot Akai, but his gun had also run out of bullets. Akai sprinted forward, punched 12's stomach and whacked 12's neck with the blade of his hand, rendering him unconscious. Something moved behind him, and he whirled around with a back turn kick, just in time to catch BO number 13, who had been about to shoot him. 13 accidently pulled the trigger as he fell, and shot BO 14's leg, who had been behind 13. Akai kicked 14's other leg, toppling her. They hit the wall and got knocked out.

Suddenly, 15 hurtled out of the shop in front of Akai, yelling. Surprised, Akai automatically stepped back to balance himself and tripped over an unconscious body. He staggered and misstepped, twisting his right ankle. Pain shot up his right leg. 15 crowed triumphantly and advanced slowly, relishing his apparant moment of victory. Akai gritted his teeth, picked up the unconscious BO's gun(unfortunately it was the empty one), and hurled it at 15. He got it full in the face and fell over. Akai took his gun and easily shot 16, 17, and 18. 19 came in front of him, and he turned his attention to 19 readying the gun.

Then, something moved quickly behind him. He tried to turn, but his right ankle faltered and it was too late. 20 hit him on the back of his head, and he fell down, semiconscious. 19 and 20 stood over him, grinning maliciously. 19 reached for his gun, but 20 stopped him and pulled out something.

"These are the pills that I talked about." He boasted.

"You mean the pills that could kill without leaving any traces?"

"Aye. I'll give him two to make his death more painful." They both laughed.

20 shoved 2 pills into Akai's mouth and trickled some water to make him swallow. Chuckling evily, they walked away. Almost instantly, he felt a strong wave of pain. His whole body shook. The pain from his ankle was nothing compared to this. Another wave of pain coursed though his body. He clenched his fists. He could faintly hear the sound of the police sirens and the surprised yells of the BO members.

'So this is how I die. Well, at least I put some of those dirty crows into jail.'

Then another wave of pain shot through him, and everything went black.

"-i! Oi! Wake up!" Akai saw a blurry image of a man crouching in front of him. He blinked to clear his eyes. 'So I'm not dead?' He tried to move his legs. Pain shot up from his right ankle. Groaning, he sat up. For some reason, everything seemed to be taller than before. He glanced at the man. He was a police officer. He looked relieved to see Akai sit up. "Are you all right?" The officer asked. He glanced up to see blood trickling from Akai's forehead,staining his knit hat.

"Whoa, that's a nasty bruise. Does it hurt a lot? Weren't you scared?"

Akai just stared at him. Something about the way the officer addressed him was strange. His head throbbed. The pain was finally coming to him. Wincing a little, he reached up, then saw that the sleeves of his clothes were way longer than they should have been, and were wrinkled and dangling. His trousers were the same way as well. Akai was a person who rarely showed his emotions, but his eyes widened. The officer misunderstood the reason.

"It does hurt, doesn't it?" He said sympathetically. "Where's your mother?"

'Where's my mo- _is he serious?_' Akai started to ask "What are yo-" then shut his mouth quickly. His voice was lighter than it should have been. Too light to be an adult's. 'What's happening?' His attention whipped to the conversation the police officer was having with his radio: "Nobody's seriously hurt. There's a boy about 7year-old with a bruise on the head. He…"

Akai had stopped listening. 'Seven year-old boy?' He shot up and ran to a mirror. There, instead of himself, he saw a kid with green eyes and a knit hat tilted to one side, in clothes too big for him. 'Nani? How could this happen?' He remembered the pills the BO members had given him. 'The pills!' He glanced around to see the police officer coming towards him. 'I can't let him catch me!' He sprinted out of the building, ignoring the officer's surprised yells and the pain from his right ankle, and headed towards the Agasa residence.

Akai had nearly reached the Agasa residence. His pace had slowed to a limp a long time ago, and he was panting; his strength had been reduced to that of a 7 year-old. His right leg was throbbing. It was nearly night, and nobody was on the streets. He had thought of going to the Mouri detective agency at first, but then he remembered that Conan was planning to go to the Agasa residence(he had overheard the phone conversation outside the door with the excuse that he had brought them some curry). Anyway there was a girl and the girl's father there as well, so he couldn't go there without informing them as well.

He reached the gates, limped up to the front door, and knocked on the door. There was no answer. He knocked on it again and called out "Oi! Help! Open the door!" He heard Conan's voice say "I'm coming!"and the door opened.

-Conan(with a little bit of backwards time leap)-

Conan had come to the Agasa residence because Kogoro was outside(probably in a bar), and Ran had to go to karate practice. He had argued that he'll be fine by himself, but Ran was too concerned about his safety. So he had ended up in the Agasa residence listening to exploding inventions and Haibara's sarcastic remarks. It was nearly night, and Conan was planning to go to bed(he had nothing to do, so he thought he might as well go to sleep) when he heard a knock outside the door. Agasa looked up from his inventions. Conan looked up as well. Haibara was in the basement, experimenting.

"Did you invite someone, Hakase?" Conan asked. Agasa shook his head. There was another knock, and a voice called out, "Oi! Help! Open the door!" Conan frowned. The voice was vaguely familiar. "I think he needs help." He said to Agasa,and went to open the door, calling "I'm coming!" He opened the door to see…

"A, Akai-san?"

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Yay! I finally finished it! Since I can't use the computer often, it takes a long time to finish a chapter.**

**Oh, and don't think that my fanfic is dead unless I said so, okay? It's just taking a long time to upload another chapter, so please wait until another chapter comes.**

**Please R&R!**

***: That's what Akai said to Andre Camel in Clash of Red and Black. I believe it was a quote from Hamlet.**

**/EDIT: 5.6.12- I'm alive! To prove this point I'm revising the chapters right now. After I'm done with that I'll proceed to the 3rd chapter.  
>2.19.15- a few tweaks.<strong>


	2. Chapter 2 revised

**A/N.**

**Aah! Finally! The second chapter! I can't write very often, so it takes a long time for a ****chapter to come out. **

**Disclamer: I, of course, do not own any of the DC characters.**

**Special Thanks to **

**Tsukiko95 and Duchess AnimieLove for the reviews and to tsunahime0602, Seto K4iba 1, ****Satansbratn, Em Phantom and Sailor Light Angel for adding my story to Story ****Alert/Favorite Story. Thank you!**

**Dictionary-**

_**Japanese**_**-English**

_**Ohio!-**_**Good Morning!**

_**Kuso!-**_**Damn it!**

_**Barou-**_**Stupid, idiot(mostly used by Conan in a friendly way)**

_**Baka-**_**Stupid, idiot(mostly used by Ai)**

_**Gomen-**_**Sorry**

_**Boya-**_**Boy, kid**

_**Nani?-**_**What? or What the-?**

_**Wakata**_**-Yes/Okay/Rodger**

_**Wakarimashita**_**- Yes, sir. (to a higher rank/older person)**

_**Hai**_**-Yes**

_**Iie**_**-No**

**I think the Dictionary is and will be getting longer every chapter…**

**A. Dragon: Yay! The Second Chapter!**

**Conan: Why do you like cliff-hangers so much?**

**A. Dragon: How did you know that I like cliff-hangers?**

**Conan: Only one truth prevails. *smirks***

**A. Dragon: *uses writer's manipulation to read Conan's mind* You know because I ****used a cliff-hanger in my last chapter, right?**

**Conan:(surprised) How did you know?**

**A. Dragon: *ignores Conan* Let's start!**

"Blahblah" = talking

'_hmmmm' = _thinking

( wowowowow)= A/N

***= time change

* * *

><p>"<em>Oi! Help! Open the door!" <em>

_ Conan frowned. The voice was vaguely familiar. "I think he needs help." He said to Agasa, __and went to open the door, calling "I'm coming!" He opened the door to see…_

"_A, Akai-san?"_

Akai had to smirk when he saw the surprise on the boy's face. "Finally," he said, limping into thehouse. "I thought you were never going to answer." Conan closed the door and quickly went beside him.

"Are you alright? How did you get into this mess? And how-"

he stopped, then whispered worriedly, "did _they_ find out?" Akai raised an eyebrow. "As for the first question, does this look like I'm alright?" he asked with an underlying tone of sarcasm, spreading his arms and demonstrating the many rips, scratches,bruises and the blood on his forehead.

"As for the second question, I got into a fight with some of _them_."

(A/N: Okay, from this point, many of the sentences may be a little stiff and short since I was itching to right the later parts but had to write this first… Please understand! :D)

Conan's eyes widened. He looked around worriedly. "So they _did_ find you out!" he said in a far more hushed tone. Akai shook his head.

"They were new to the organization, so they didn't recognize me. And they were all caught."

Conan breathed out a sigh of relief and went to fetch the emergency kit. Akai limped to the sofa and stretched out his legs, also breathing out a sigh of relief, only for a different reason: Coming all the way from the department store to the house had totally exhausted him, and his twisted ankle hurt a lot because of negligence; Akai was not the kind who cared a lot about or tended to his wounds. Conan came back with the emergency kit and Akai started to patch himself up. Agasa-hakase came out of his experimenting room(he had hurried back inside after Conan went to open the door because his newest invention was falling apart). Akai spotted him and smirked slightly.

"I see that you are still obsessed with your inventions, hakase."

He said to Agasa. Agasa looked surprised. "How do you know me? I don't recognize you, boya." Akai grimaced slightly. _'he didn't have to call me boya…'_ Conan started to explain about Akai and how he had been Okiya Subaru and how he had gotten shrunk(Akai had told him about the fight when he was getting patched up). Agasa nodded slowly, trying to understand everything. "Oh, so he's another FBI agent?" he started to say something more, but was cutoff by a big _BOOM_. "I'm sorry, I have to go!" he said, and hurried back to his lab.(A/N: an excellent way of getting rid of Agasa XD) Akai and Conan sighed and rolled their eyes in unison. Conan turned to Akai.

"So, what are you going to do?" he asked.

"Well, I certainly can't go back to the FBI since they think Kir killed me and _they_ will know if I do, and I also certainly can't be Okiya anymore because of the, well, height difference, so I guess the answer is obvious."

Akai replied, leaning back with his hands behind his head the way Conan sometimes did. "I'll have to act like a regular kid going to school." Conan nodded in agreement. "You can go after Agasa-hakase takes care of some stuff, and we can buy clothes later." "There is one problem, though." Akai said. Conan's eyes became round, maybe by curiosity or surprise. "What? What is it?"

"Haibara." Akai said, glancing at the basement door. "I'm the reason her sister died. I don't think she'll forgive me. She _is_ Miyano Shiho, right?" Conan nodded again. "Yes. She took the pills as well. And I... I did too." Akai looked up. "hm?" Conan's expression was set and determined. "I have something to tell you," he said. "My real name is Kudo Shinichi, a high-school detective…"

Conan finished his story. Akai didn't seem to be very surprised. "So that explains why you were so smart," he said. "The famous high-school detective has been helping the FBI crush the organization, eh?" Conan grinned sheepishly. "Well, yeah." He said. Then, he smirked evilly. "Let's share the pain of having to learn everything again, shall we?" Akai grinned as well. "I think I'll pass. I'll just sleep through the entire class." He stood up. "I'll see you tomorrow." He started to limp towards the door.(you know, his twisted right ankle)

_Crash!_

Akai and Conan turned around to see Haibara, her whole body trembling, the broken remainsof a cup rolling around her feet.

"Moroboshi… Dai?"

**Yeeesh! I finally finished it! Haibara is finally here! I originally planned the going to ****school part here as well, but the last scene was such a good cliff-hanger that I had to cut ****it there XD. Also, you guys were waiting for the next chapter….I think. It's short, ****though. :( For people who don't know, Moroboshi Dai was Akai's (fake) name when he ****infiltrated the Organization. It's best that you watch Clash of Red and Black to ****understand this fic better. And plz understand that I wasn't very keen on writing this ****part since I didn't know how to right this, so it may be a little stiff and short and ****fast-paced. The next chapter is going to be better!**

**Please R&****R! **

**Byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee**

**/Edit: 5/19/12 Finished revising the second chapter. Now I will proceed to write the third chapter! :D**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hi readers! I'm back! I revised chapter 1 and 2.**

**I'm sooooooo sorry about the late update, but an exam is coming up and I have to study. Anyways,**

**Special Thanks to**

**Review: Tuskiko95, Duchess AnimieLove, Em Phantom, ScarletShad0w, Yoruko Rhapsodos, ZeroPanda.**

**Favorite Story/Author/Story Alert: Twilightreader1, Tsukiko95, Tooby, Duchess ****AnimieLove, emina 15, ScarletShad0w, karin taicho, solsol123, Chrome-chanXTsuna, Yoruko Rhapsodos, Aslook, tylercass, Kaitoucon, book234, Foyet, Primcartoons, PoisonAndSugar.**

**Thank you all!**

**A. Dragon: Gaahaah! Silver Bullet-Wolf25 does not own Detective Conan! Aaaaghaa! -I must be getting crazy..**

**The last chapter was soooooooooooooooooooooo short T^T I hope this chapter is not as short as the 2****nd**** chapter. I can't know about this until I upload it :P**

**Dictionary-**

_**Japanese**_**-English**

_**Ohio!-**_**Good Morning! * **_**Kuso!-**_**Damn it!**

_**Barou-**_**Stupid, idiot(mostly used by Conan in a friendly way)**

_**Baka-**_**Stupid, idiot(mostly used by Ai)**

_**Gomen-**_**Sorry * **_**Boya-**_**Boy, kid**

_**Nani?-**_**What? or What the-? * **_**Wakata**_**-Yes/Okay/Rodger**

_**Wakarimashita**_**- Yes, sir. (to a higher rank/older person)**

_**Hai**_**-Yes * **_**Iie**_**-No * **_**Yoroshiku**_**-Nice to meet you * **_**Sensei**_**-Teacher**

**Yup, it's getting longer, and most of them are useless.**

***I changed Akai-san's current physical age(whoa, this sounds professional) from 9 to 7.***

* * *

><p><em>Crash!<em>

_Akai and Conan turned around to see Haibara, her whole body trembling, the broken remains __of a cup rolling around her feet._

"_Moroboshi… Dai?"_

A heavy silence filled the room. Haibara stared at Dai. Why was he here? How did he know about this place? The questions pushed away the fact that Dai looked like a seven-year-old into a far corner of her mind. As the surprise began to ebb away, rage started to fill its place. If it weren't for him, her sister would be alive. He was the reason for her sister's grief and death. Haibara's shocked expression turned into a hateful glare. Akai opened his mouth to say something, then looked away. What could he say? That he was sorry? That everything was his fault? He knew that no words would be able to console her or make up for the death of her sister.

Haibara started to shake. "H...how did you...?" she stammered, her voice trembling. Then, in a much louder voice, she screamed

"Why are you here? Why did you come? Get away from here! Go away!"

Conan, startled by her reaction, put a hand on Haibara's shoulder to calm her down and started to say

"Haibara, let me explain. Akai-san is an FBI agent, and his real name is Akai Shuichi-"

But Haibara didn't listen any further. "So, my sister didn't even know your real name when she died?" She shook off Conan's hand. Tears started to form in her eyes.

"She loved you! She loved you enough to risk her life and die for you! Does that mean nothing to you?"

Haibara hurled a broken piece of her cup at Akai. He didn't try to dodge it. It narrowly missed him and shattered against the wall. Ignoring Conan's surprised cry of "Oi, Haibara!" she continued to scream "Of course it doesn't! Why would you care about her? She was nothing more than a tool for you!" She fell to her knees and sobbed, her once held-back grief now flowing freely. Akai didn't show it, but every word felt as if he was being stabbed by a throwing knife, hurled with venom. And he deserved it. He deserved everything she said to him, for hadn't he done the exact same thing she had accused him of? Using Akemi as a tool?

No. It wasn't even close. He had betrayed her trust, manipulated her love, then left her as if she was nothing. He had been unable to do anything, completely useless the day... the day she was killed. It was much worse than what Haibara had said to him. The knives were blunt compared to what he had done.

'_I'm sorry, Shiho...'_

Pushing down his own inner turmoil, Akai Shuichi silently left the Agasa residence.

.#.

*A few days after*

"Ohio, Conan-kun!" As always, the Detective Boys' cheerful voices greeted Conan. Conan responded with a wave. Ayumi was the first to reach him. "Conan-kun, where's Ai-chan?" she asked, noticing Haibara's absence. "She's sick. She won't be coming to school today." Conan replied, causing Genta and Mitsuhiko to look disappointed. Actually, the explanation was a lie: After a few days of rest, peace, and some explanations from Conan, Haibara had calmed down a little, but she and Akai were obviously avoiding each other.

"Did you hear? A new student is coming today!" Ayumi chirped happily. "Really? That's great! Is the new student a boy or a girl?" Mitsuhiko asked. Haibara's absence was already forgotten. The notion of a new student always excited the children for reasons unknown to Conan. Besides, he already knew who the new student was, though he was mildly surprised that he was in the same class. He tuned out the Detective Boys' chatter and walked into the classroom, his mind filled with, as usual, Sherlock Holmes and Cases. Oh, and a more recently added category, the Black Organization.

Akai walked into the classroom with the teacher, Kobayashi-sensei. The murmuring ended when he entered. He stood in front of the whole class and swept his gaze through the classroom in a calm and undisturbed way. During the process he caught Conan's eyes. A smirk of recognition was evident on the detective's face. Akai returned it with his own. "A new student will be joining us today." Kobayashi-sensei said. "Please introduce yourself, Akira-kun." She watched as 'Akira-kun' introduced himself. "Akira Kagayaku. Yoroshiku." Calm, and without a trace of anxiousness. She couldn't help being puzzled. Most children new to the school were very shy. Scared, even. Everything that Akira-kun was currently not. She pushed the thought away.

_'Children all have different types of personalities. There's nothing __wrong with not being shy at a new school.'_

"Your seat is behind Conan-kun's."(A/N:Anyone who had sat there in the original series has just been eliminated by the author XD)

Before she could tell Conan-kun to raise his hand, Akira-kun was already halfway through the classroom. '_They must know each other,_' she thought. Then, she remembered something: "Akira-kun, you have to take off your hat." Akira-kun paused and turned around, and they met eyes for the first time. As much as she liked children, she could not say that it was a good experience.

"I'd prefer not to, sensei."

The tone was polite enough, but the stare was… not normal. She didn't know if the unusual eye shape and color added to the feeling, but those eyes certainly did not belong to a child. She often thought that about Conan-kun, but this… this was different. She heard herself say "W-well, okay, then." Akira-kun continued his way to his seat, satisfied.

School was agonizing. Akai wondered how Conan had survived all this time. He looked up and saw the answer: he had _not_ survived. Conan was currently sprawled on his desk, rolling his pencil again and again mindlessly. Akai sighed and turned his attention to the kanji paper he was supposed to practice on. Kobayashi was not in the classroom. However, he knew that she would be back soon, as no sane teacher left kids in a classroom alone for a long time. He half-finished his worksheet, not caring about the handwriting(most 1st graders wrote untidily anyway), and took out two thick books. One of them, a Sherlock Holmes novel(which happened to be Conan's favorite, The Sign of the Four, by chance), he handed to Conan, who received it gratefully and started to flip through the pages in pure delight. The other, The Night Baron, he kept for himself and started to read. After a few minutes, the sensei returned. Akai quickly shoved the book in the desk and returned to the kanji sheet as if he had been doing it all the time. It was a skill which had been very useful when he had inflitrated the Oraganization. Who knew that he would be using the same skill in an elementary school?

Finally the bell rang, signalling the end of school. Akai couldn't help feeling relieved as he packed his backpack. He hoped he wiould get used to it soon. Out of the corner of his eye he saw two boys and a girl walking out of the classroom, chatting excitedly. The Shounen Tantei-dan. He had heard about them from Conan last recess. His eyes flicked to the classroom windows, and through them he saw three figures bigger than the rest of the children walking toward the Shounen Tanteis.

_'Third graders coming here? That's not a good sign...'_

Then the incident happened. The third graders bumped into the Shouten Tanteis, and after a brief moment of startled silence, started yelling at them.

"Watch where you're going, bastards!" The leader, the biggest of the three, was also the loudest.

"We...we're sorry.." The boy who Conan had said was Mitsuhiko mumbled. The girl-Yoshida Ayumi?-was close to tears. The large kid, Genta, looked half scared and half indignant.

"'Sorry' doesn't do anything!" The leader shouted. He angrily raised his fist, but he didn't hit who he'd expected to hit.

"Conan-kun!" Ayumi cried out. Akai already knew what had happened. Conan had rushed over from the now-existing crowd and intercepted the punch, getting hit instead. He was curretly half sitting-half sprawled on the floor, a nasty bruise forming on his cheek where the fist had made contact. Akai could not help thinking that it was a rather stupid move: Conan's soccer skills were too dangerous to use indoors, and using the tranquilizer watch would make the teachers wonder why a 1st grader was carrying(not to mention effectively using) a weapon. In other words, unless he was a good hand-to-hand fighter, which he didn't seem to be, Conan had just introduced himself to the third grade bullies as an irritating yet perfect punching bag.

_'Gotta do something before it becomes a reality.'_

Thinking this, he emerged from the crowd, and said

"Picking on younger gradeschoolers. Do you really have nothing else to do?"

The leader, who had been raising his fist again, stopped to look at the imprudent kid who had interrupted him. Akai had continued on his way to where the Detective Boys were, so now he was practically face-to-face with the leader. Akai's current gaze was a lot more close to a stare than a glare, but he could see that the big guy was getting unnerved.

"You-" Saying that, the leader swung his fist, aimed directly at him.

The crowd had to gasp at what happened after: In less than a seond, Akai had blocked the fist, got a hold of it, and twisted the bully's arm. The bully yelped as he pressed. The other two 3rd graders didn't seem to know what to do. Akai looked straight at the bully's eyes. This time, it was more of a glare. The bully leader gulped.

"Next time you do anything like this again, I'll do more than twist one arm."

The leader nodded frantically. Akai let go of the arm, and the three 3rd graders were gone in a second. The crowd stood still, unsure of what to do, until he looked around and said "Well...?"

The crowd scattered almost as quickly as the third graders, probably because of the scary green-eyed kid who had just sent a large bully flying with a single move.

"Arigatou, Aka-Akira san," Conan breathed out. The other three were looking at Akai with some kind of awe.

"That was soooooo cool!" Ayumi said. Mitsuhiko agreed by nodding enthusiasticly.

'_I did that quite often with _bigger_ people, like that Kalvados person who looked like a gun dealer_.*' Akai thought, but of course he didn't say that out loud.

"Join the Detective Boys, Akira-san!" Mitsuhiko said.

"Yeah! We can solve cases and catch culprits!" Ayumi said. Conan nodded.

"Well, all right then. I guess it'll be fun..." _Compared to being in the same space with Akemi's sister..._ Akai thought, but again he didn't say that out loud.

"The Detective Boys has a new member! Hurray!" The kids cheered and marched off gleefully. Akai gave Conan a look that said _'Ohhh-kay...'_ Conan shrugged. _'Just get used to it.' _They followed the Shounen Dantei-dan out of the building to wherever they were headed.

. # .

"So, Akai-san," Conan said quietly. "How was your first day of elementary school?" They were a few paces behind the Shounen Dantei-dan.

"I spent most of the time mentally debating with myself how I'd managed to do it the first time." Akai replied.

Conan grinned. "I spent my first day introducing my head to the desk." Turning serious, he whispered, "About that fight... Don't you think it's kind of strange that _they_ sent more than 20 people for one job? Usually they just send 2~3 people at a time."

"They were not experienced and probably new to the organization, since their way of handling the situation wasn't exactly outstanding."

"And they didn't recognize you."

"No."

"Then... The organization sent them to get rid of them?"

"It's possible. If that's true, then those people certainly know nearly nothing about the organization."

"Right. If they knew anything important, they would have been killed right away."

"Those pills they were told to trade probably weren't important as well. Just plain drugs. Nothing special."

Conan had to look at Akai with ax-eyes(half moon eyes) at this.

_'Plain drugs. Nothing special. Right.'_

Akai didn't seemed to have noticed. Or maybe he was just ignoring it.

"If they succeded, the organization will get the money. If they fail, they are gotten rid of." A slight smirk traced his lips. "A good plan."

"Oi oi, is it really the time to be praising them?"

"I guess not..."

Their conversation was broken off by Ayumi's delighted cry.

"We're here!"

'? !'

Akai and Conan jerked back into the present. They were standing in front of a building that said 'Game on Game'.**

"Here where?"

"The Arcade, of course!" Mitsuhiko said. "Didn't you hear our conversation?"

"Errr... No." They said at once together. They hadn't been paying attention to where they were going.

"We're celebrating because the Detective Boys has a new member now!" Ayumi said.

"Let's go!" The Shounen Tantei-dan happily raced into the Arcade, leaving Akai and Conan open-mouthed outside the building.

"I thought the _adults_ were the ones who kidnapped the _kids_?" Akai said.

"I must be an idiot." Conan mumbled, facepalming.

The two followed the Detective Boys into the building.

.

.

.

.

*: episode 345- Shuichi comments that he thought Kalvados was a gun dealer because he had so many kinds of guns.

**: this is the arcade where Jodie used to go when she was working as an English teacher. File 270

* * *

><p><strong>I suck at angst T^T<strong>

**Whew! Ended it! I'll try to update soon! **

**I switch POVs a lot. The way each person is called is a bit different in each POV,(a cyber cookie to anybody ****who noticed :D) so have fun finding out the ****differences! Also, it'll help you know who's POV it is. ****It was inferred in the recent files that Haibara doesn't know that Akai is the reason her ****sister died, but hey, this is my fic, right?**

**-Akira means bright/light. It's commonly used in names.- Kagayaku is a name slightly changed from the word kagayaki, which means shine.**

**ScarletShad0w, I hope that the conversation answered your opinion that the BO ****wouldn't send as much as 20 people. I thought about that too, but my brain couldn't ****think of any other options :P. Plus, I just had to give him a fighting scene. XD**

**Reviews are VEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRYYYY appreciated!**

**Conan: So what?**

**A. Dragon: EEEVVIIILLLLL DRAGON PUNCH!**

**Conan: Caps lock manipulation!**

**Well, Byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee**

_Tsuburaya Mitsuhiko_


	4. Chapter 4

**Oh no, how many months had passed since I last updated?! I don't even remember! I'm soo sorry!**

**I' won't be posting special thanks and the dictionary anymore since it takes some time&space and I'd rather write more of the story.**

**So I'll just say: Thank you everbody! :D **

**Also thanks to Fruitcake for the long criticism. Some of them I'd completely missed, some I could reply to, and some I have thought about and built more on that part. All in all, it was very helpful. Thank you!**

**Oh, and if you haven't noticed, I use the term ax-eyes instead of half-moon eyes since it seemed more... fitting.**

**Disclamer: I don't own Detective Conan. Sheesh, I'm only on chapter four and I'm already getting tired of saying it. But alas, what must be done must be done. ...oh no I sound like Dumbledore now :p**

* * *

><p><em>"Let's go!" The Shounen Tantei-dan happily raced into the Arcade, leaving Akai and Conan open-mouthed outside the building.<em>

_"I thought the adults were the ones who kidnapped the kids?" Akai said._

_"I must be an idiot." Conan mumbled, facepalming._

_The two followed the Detective Boys into the building._

_.#._

The Arcade was fairly crowded. Akai and Conan had to work hard not to lose sight of the Detective Boys, who were barging through by using Genta's relatively huge body.

"I hate being short." Conan muttered as he nearly got squashed by some hyperactive high-schoolers.

"Figures." Akai grunted back.

Fortunately, their 'hardship' did not last long. Soon after a few more pushes and stumbles, they were able to make their way across to where the Detective Boys were already engrossed in a particular shooting game that Conan recognized. Akai must have realized Conan recognized the game, since he glanced at Conan questioningly.

"It's the one Jodie-san was playing when we met her in here. She used to come here when she was pretending to be a teacher. She broke the high record or something." He explained.

Akai looked a little bit more interested, though with his lack of expressions it was hard to tell. Conan heard the kids cry out in dismay, but soon drowned them out after he saw the 'Game Over' sign flashing on the screen.

"It's a shooting game. You use a fake gun to shoot the monsters on the screen..." Conan trailed off. Something in Akai's eyes had changed. Conan was sure he lost him after 'shooting' and 'gun'.

"Uhh... Akai-san?"

But the FBI agent was already walking towards the Detective Boys.

"Mind if I have a try?" he asked. Ayumi willingy handed over the fake gun, and he aimed at the screen, grinning broadly-quite unlike his usual self.

Conan gulped.

It is obvious what the outcome was: Jodie-sensei's record was broken with vigor. Conan had watched Akai as he 'killed' monster after monster, a dangerous glint in his eyes. _GinGinGinGinGinGin _was written all over his expression.

He gulped again.

.#.

When he was finished, the Detective Boys kindly 'guided' them to a racing game. Akai was going to decline until he saw the Chevrolet-C1500; the brand of his car which he had sacrificed for 'the plan'. It had been some time since he last rode one: Pretending to be a normal University student did have its minus points. Deciding that a ride wouldn't hurt, he walked up to the controls to assess them. They seemed to be accurate enough. Satisfied, he pulled himself up to sit on the seat. It was a bit big, but he was tall for his physical age and it was small enough for him to reach the pedals. He was about to start when he heard a male voice adress him.

"Hey kid, wanna race with me?" the voice said.

Akai turned his head to the direction of the voice. Sure enough, a young man about twenty years old was grinning down at him, already seated next to him.

"Sure," he replied curtly. He knew there was no use refusing these kind of people. The man would have probably asked him again and again or would have goaded him into accepting if he had said no. Sighing inwardly in slight annoyance at the overy energetic man, he chose the chevrolet and got himself ready.

"You sure you want to drive that?" asked the man -he had obviously forgotten to introduce himself and Akai hadn't bothered to ask- as he glanced at his screen. "Big cars aren't easy to handle."

'_I miss my blown up car, got a problem?' _he thought.

Outwards, he simply said, "It looks cool."

The man shrugged, probably thinking it was one of those crazy kids' thoughts not understandable by mature adults like him. Sighing inwardly again despite himself, Akai turned his attention back to the screen. The mundane car he had to use as Okiya Subaru had nearly driven him mad.

Meanwhile, Conan shifted nervously behind Akai. He knew the former FBI agent was releasing his pent-up energy with the things he were accustomed to, and watching someone like Akai-san shoot or drive after months of being cooped up inside a house, even if they were games, was a frightening sight to behold. His sharp eyes, years of experience in the Organization and the FBI, and the indifferent, almost cold character created an aura that was impossible to ignore. He had tried to withdraw the aura as much as possible to create the amiable, pleasant personality of Okiya Subaru, but currently he was unconsciously letting at least a part of it out of the mental cage it had to be confined to.

Conan couldn't help feeling sorry for Akai-san's challenger. If the game was quite similar to real-life driving, the man had no chance at all.

.

The game was quite similar to real-life driving.

* * *

><p>After the race, Akai and Conan left the flabbergasted man to sit in the corner while the Detective Boys scurried around. Akai thought he had drawn enough attention for a day, and Conan was quick to agree. They left the building about an hour later and parted ways, the Detective Boys still flushed with excitement and Conan with an expression that he wanted nothing more than to flop onto a bed right now. Akai was also feeling rather tired: He was not used to the short energetic bursts of a child, and the three <em>real<em> kids dragging him around had certainly not helped matters.

"Conan-kun?"

Somebody called from the other side of the street, breaking him and Conan from their exhausted stupor. Two girls were heading their way. One of them had light brown, almost blond hair that nearly reached her shoulders. The other had long, dark brown hair and blue-violet eyes. She was waving at them, or rather, Conan.

"Ran-neechan!" Conan called back. He ran towards the two, the ex-FBI agent jogging behind him to keep up. How kids could run around all day when they covered such little distance with their shrot legs, Akai had no idea.

Cathcing up with the detective, Akai's eyes narrowed as he looked at the girl Conan had called 'Ran-neechan'. She was the Japanese girl he had met a year ago in America, trying to catch Vermouth, and met again sometime ago. He remembered how similar she had looked like Akemi; how Conan had stood in front of her with his arms spread protectively; how, in his mourning and negative state of mind, he had derisively considered the boy's action as a futile and pathetic attempt if he had really tried to attack before the thought led to his own promise and failure to protect Akemi.

He closed his eyes shut, trying to drive the image of her limp, bloodied body away...

"Hi, nice to meet you! I'm Ran, Ran Mouri."

His eyes flew open to find the girl right in front of him, her legs and back slightly bent to match his height.

"...Akira Kagayaku." he replied curtly. He knew he should have tried more to act out the part of a kid, but he was... not in the mood. He berated himself for letting things like that control him, but it was already done. Besides, he knew that faking personalities was a tricky thing, and that becoming completey serious in one moment and bouncing around like a hyperactive kid in the next will be even more suspicious. It would be easier just to let them think of him as a mature child.

Ran was now staring curiously at him.

"Have we met before?" she asked. From the two- three, if he counted this one- times they met* and from what Conan had told him, the girl did seem to have either a good memory or a sort of advanced sixth sense. Akai wasn't going to let that faze him, however.

"...no." he replied, gazing evenly at her. After a moment, though, he averted his eyes, noticing that the girl was becoming uneasy. Ran misunderstood.

"Ah, sorry if I made you uncomfortable!" she apologized.

"It's alright," he assured her, noting unconsciously it was the first thing he'd said today to her that was actually the truth. Quite ironic since it seemed to be the only thing she didn't believe.

Sonoko broke in, apparantly oblivious of the brief silence between the two.

"Heyheyhey, did you see the newspaper today? KID-sama is putting on another grand heist show!" She let out a fangirlish squeal. "The note was actually sent three days ago, but they've decided to show it to the public today." From the corner of his eye, Akai saw Conan perk up immediately. Now that he thought of it, he did see some articles about him being rivals with the thief...

But before he went to that topic, there was something more important he had meant to show him. Catching the detective's eyes, Akai motioned almost imperceptively to the Mouri Detective Agency with a slight jerk of his head and gave a 'look' at him. Conan got the message.

"We'll go first and find it!" he yelled and sprinted off, Akai once again jogging behind him.

"Hey! I got it right here in my phone..." Sonoko trailed off as she saw the two already disappearing up the stairs. Letting out a 'hmmph', she followed, Ran smiling fondly at the two 'excited cute children'.

The said 'excited cute children' barged through the door and skidded to a halt, their expressions the exact definition of the word 'unkidly', if such a word ever existed. Akai snatched up the newspaper from the floor where Mouri had obviously discarded it carelessly. Conan looked up from his seat on the sofa.

"We practically flew in here, it should have bought us enough time." he said.

Without answering, Akai flipped through the mess of papers that had been a newspaper before Mouri had touched it until he finally found what he had been looking for. He heard a sharp intake of breath beside him as a bold headline sprang up to their attention:

**Criminals in Custody Found Dead Overnight**

"Is it _them?_" Conan whispered. Akai nodded shortly and gestured for him to read further:

_The Police report that the band of about 20 criminals arrested for illegal transaction and terrorism, scheduled for interrogation today had all been found to be dead. Further inspection revealed that the source of the deaths was a common type of poison._

_Judging from the discarded box with the criminals' fingerprints, it can be assumed that the criminals committed suicide, though how the poison passed the examination the police confirmed they had executed..._

"They used a detectable poison on purpose." Conan said. It was more of a statement. Akai nodded again in agreement.

"Using the Apotoxin would have been too risky and they wanted the police to think that they had committed suicide."

"Yes, the police missing a small box in a search would be far less suspicious than 20 people mysteriously dying at once with no reason. Some criminals do have the 'skill' to do such things, after all."

"But still, _they_ used to be more cautious than this before. What if they've started to use more drastic measures to achieve their goal, whatever it is?"

Akai's reply(or the beginning of a reply) was cut off by the two girls who had finally caught up with them.

"Found it yet?" Sonoko's voice rang up downstairs.

The two jerked up their heads at the voice. Making a squeak that sounded like a small 'yeep', Conan hurriedly flipped to the right page.

"Yeah! We have it right here!" he called back just as the two girls emerged. He quickly skimmed through the article, taking in only what he thought was important, until he reached KID's heist note.

_Three days for you to prepare, since I'm generous. Ha!_

_A quarter of the moon and sun_

_After the red-crowned first cries,_

_When the dog has had its turn_

_And the mice is soon to squeak._

_The riddle's fairly simple, and you know where and when._

_The important thing is:_

_**?**_

"Weird, isn't it?" Sonoko asked, stooping over to peer at the note. "Especially the question mark at the bottom. What's that all about?"

But a large grin was spreading across the detective's face.

"I know _exactly_ what it's about," he said.

"And I already have the answer ready for him."

* * *

><p>After whizzing through homework, sleeping like a corpse on the sofa, brooding about the Organization's next moves, and babbling to Akai-san about KID's past heists - if Akai-san had been any other person he would have begun to doze halfway through or yelled at him to stop - they were finally there. Conan couldn't help feeling his mood lift despite <em>their<em> looming shadow.

Akai stood next to him, not entirely looking sure why he ended up bothering to come. Conan didn't know how he knew, considering the fact that Akai's expression was actually 'looking' blank. Mentally stopping the train of useless thoughts, he decided to talk with Akai instead.

"Isn't this great, Akai-san? We can finally have a break from dead bodies and _them_ for a little while!"

"It would seem so..." was his reply. He was somehow looking around sharply, taking in every detail, yet bored and somewhat unfocused at the same time. Undeterred by Akai's lack of enthusiasm, Conan grinned and yet again launched into his theory about today's heist. It was nice to have somebody who listened to him and actually understood what he was saying. Hattori visited often, but not often enough.

Meanwhile, Kuroba Kaito watched Edogawa Conan, disguised as a policeman. He'd sneaked in right after Nakamori-keibu finished pulling their faces. Really, the man's plan was so full of holes that it would have actually been boring if not for tantei-kun.

Speaking of which... his attention went back to Conan. He immediately noticed a face he hadn't seen before. The new-face was currently listening to dantei-kun, his sharp green eyes betraying no kind of emotion.

Oooh, he exclaimed to himself(it was a bit girlish, he admitted, but it wasn't like anybody was listening anyway). His favorite detective had gotten a new buddy, and from the way he acted around the black-clothed kid he trusted him to a great degree. It interested _himself_ to a great degree.

As always, his curiosity took over. Maybe he could tweak his plans for a bit _longer_ chat with the detective...

* * *

><p><strong>***IMPORTANT AN***<strong>

**to those who care about pairings! The main and unchanging pairing is Akai/Akemi(and no, she's not coming back from the dead so it's Akai remembering her for the most part), but any other pairings I've no idea. I respect canon and I don't do romance much so I guess it'll mostly be just a little bit of each pairing which could be interpreted as many ways(friendship, actual romance, family-like), but I'd like to know what you readers want. Oh, and I never write slash, so sorry Shinkai and Heiko shippers :(**

**What do you think the riddle means? It's related to time, and if you're from America, Europe or Austrailia it will be harder. There! That's the hint! It's actually quite easy if you start looking since I'm not as smart as Kaito-kun D: **

**Bonus points if you know what the '?' means! Hint: 1. Their fathers' way of communication. 2. Young Shinichi and Ran's appearance in the related episode.**

**Reviews are quite welcome! :D **

**They give me happiness and peck at me to make me write faster. ;)**

*** Actually, it's four times including the one when he was coming out of the bathroom, looking for someone, and Ran nearly ran into him. However, Akai took no notice of her at the time so I excluded it. Don't ask what episode it was, I don't rememer :P It was before Ran remembered she had met him a year ago, though.**

**+)Thank you for pointing out the mistake, Akai Fan!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A.N: Thank you all for your reviews, follows and favs! :D**

**Um... Hello? *peeks out from an enormous shield* So sorry about not updating sooner! I'll try to write more quickly :0**

**Disclaimer: me no own DC... Nuuuuuu D:**

**Now on with the story!**

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><p>It was pitch black outside. The guards tensed as the hours passed: while they did not know exactly when KID would be arriving, they knew by now that KID almost always appeared late at night. However, some of them were starting to droop, tired from lack of sleep.<p>

"Hey, stop stalling and tell us how you figured out KID-sama's trick!"

Sonoko snapped at Conan. Conan looked disgruntled, but after recieving a sharp cuff on the head, reluctantly began to speak. Akai was content to simply listen. Conan was already famous for his rivalry with the white theif. He was not. It would be better for him to stay quiet and not bring attention to himself.

"'_A quarter of the moon and sun_

_After the red-crowned first cries,_

_When the dog has had its turn_

_And the mice is soon to squeak.'_

"That was the riddle, right? Now, the animals from the riddle comes from the chinese zodiac. There are twelve animals that represent which year a person was born in, and tells us what the time is."

"Go on," Sonoko urged. She didn't want to admit it, but the kid _was _smart. Conan acted as though he hadn't heard her and went on.

"The 'red-crowned' is the rooster, which is the tenth animal of the zodiac. 7 O'Clock to 9 O'clock is called the time of the rooster. 'The moon and sun' equals one day, which is 24 hours, therefore 'a quarter of the moon and sun' means 6 hours. The riddle said 'after the red-crowned _first_ cries', so the time of the heist will be 1 O'clock, six hours after 7. Since the 1 o'clock to 3 o'clock at night is the time of the mouse, KID wrote that 'the mouse is soon to squeak'. The part about the dog was just there to help us figure it out."

"Well then, it's due pretty soon!" Sonoko squealed. "I wonder how KID-sama is going to make his _majestic_ appearance!"

Conan shot an annoyed axe-eyed look up at the over-excited girl.

'_Snap out of it, barou. You already have a boyfriend.'_

He glanced at Akai, who simply gave him a raised eyebrow and a slight shrug. How he could not be affected by behavior like that was beyond him. Maybe because he was not very aquainted with Sonoko? Or was he used to it because of the usually enthusiastic Jodie-sensei...?

The clock was now pointing to 5 minutes before 1. Conan's thoughts trailed back to the end of the riddle.

_The riddle's fairly simple, and you know where and when._

_The important thing is:_

_**?**_

The moment he saw the single question mark he had known the answer. He had seen the exact same message when he was telling the story ten years ago, when he and Ran had gone on a 'detective's adventure'.

"I know you're in here somewhere, and I know you're watching, KID." Conan called out.

"My answer is, of course," he grinned as he pulled out a piece of folded paper, unfolded it, and held it up confidently to show-

"-_this._"

_**!**_

Somewhere among the police officers, KID grinned, a complete copy of the detective's.

The clock struck once.

And everything went black.

* * *

><p>The police squad panted as they followed a white figure through staircases and hallways with no avail. Turning round the corner and reaching a dead end, they saw that the thief had vanished yet again. Then, the wall in front of them shimmered slightly.<p>

"He's hiding over there! Get him!"

"YAAAAAHHHH!"

With a war cry that could put armies to shame, the police squad launched themselves right at the wall only to find... nothing. They landed in a heap and, wrongly assuming that the person next to him was actually KID in disguise, started to tackle each other. They were only briefly quieted when a net swooshed over, catching them quite perfectly.

"Come on, people! How many times does it take for you guys to _learn_?"

Kaitou KID swooped down from his hidden hiding place in the ceiling. Grinning and heaving a sigh that sounded much too sad to be real, he leisurely landed in front of the inraged police squad.

"I have to say, you look better captured than when you're rampaging around like drunk boars. Less dangerous too. Hmmm.. I should use this net more often- eeek!"

The wriggling-monster-that-was-actually-people lunged at him. Kaito quickly dodged out of the way and sent them crashing with the wall. He jumped out of range and grinned at them again.

"Just a _little_ bit faster and you might actually be able catch me. Well, good luck on that next time!"

He gave the seething policemen a mocking bow and sprinted up the stairs leading to the rooftop. However, as he neared his destination his expression turned serious. Today, he came for more than just a jewel. Tantei-kun seemed to have noticed it as well. Tantei-kun... He hoped he wasn't pulling the detective into more trouble than necessary. Heaven knew the detective already had enough trouble revolving around him.

He let out another sigh, this time a real one. Stepping onto the rooftop, he jumped up and balanced himself on the railing. He had sent the note, carried out the heist. There was no backing out now.

All he could do now was wait.

.

"Just-one-floor-more-!"

Conan panted as he charged up the staircase leading to the rooftop. Akai followed silentely behind him, but he too was breathing heavily. He really had to get used to his kid-body soon...

"There!"

Conan wrenched open the door. Akain blinked at the sudden fresh gust of the night breeze brushing against his skin. He breathed in deeply as his eyes swept through the rooftop. There, standing in stark white contrast against the black sky, was Kaitou Kid. He had turned on the railing when Conan opened the door, and now hopped down.

"What took you so long?"

In the darkness, Akai could just see the outline of a teasing grin.

"If you didn't make us run up stairs we would have arrived sooner!"

Was Conan's irritated reply. KID chuckled, still grinning. However, as he came closer, Akai could see that there was something off about the grin. He was experienced enough about poker faces to know that it was a fake. Something was bothering the thief. He narrowed his eyes, wondering what it was.

"So, why exactly did you call us?" Conan asked, his expression showing that he was still annoyed. "If it's something like 'please help me steal some other jewel'..."

"Of course not!" KID exclamed. "You know I'm too skilled to ask a detective for things like that!"

Conan raised an eyebrow. KID sighed in an overly-exasperated way.

"I swear in Arsen Lupin's name that I'm not asking for stuff related to stealing glittering objects."

"Ah, swearing in a thief's name, so_ very_ trustworthy."

"Are you insulting _the_ Arsen Lupin?!"

Akai decided to step in before the conversation completely lost its point.

"So, the reason you came here is...?" he asked.

Conan broke off from his banter sheepishly. KID looked at him quizzically, probably wondering who he was, but answered anyway.

"Well, I don't know if you'll believe me, but there's a gem called Pandora which can give a person immortality." he paused for a moment.

"And?" Conan pressed impatiently.

"And... There's a person... Who always seems to be wearing the same black coat..." he trailed off. Akai could see KID was stalling, weighing the possibilities, still unsure if he should tell them or decide to stay silent at the last moment. Conan's eyebrow twitched.

"Just _get to the point_."

After a moment, KID finally gave in.

"..There's a person codenamed 'Snake' who's out to get the gem and kill me."

Conan's irritated expression disappeared instantly from his face. Akai's eyes narrowed. A want for immortality. Black clothes. Snake.. _Snake wine..._ Maybe he was jumping to conclusions, but it was too much of a coincidence.

"Is it.. _Them_?" Conan gasped out.

"It seems to be so." he replied quietly.

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><p>Kaito was confused. Very confused. He had expected Mr. Detective to be surprised that somebody was targeting him, but he hadn't been expecting this kind of reaction. The detective looked genuinely shocked, and was that... <em>horror<em>?

His mind whirled as he tried to figure out what was going on. The kid wearing the black beanie had shown nearly no reaction, but Kaito was sure he knew why Conan was so surprised. His eyes turned to the black kid, looking for more hints to the situation.

Sharp green eyes stared right back at him.

He broke out of his mind jumble with a start. _Poker face, Kaito! Focus!_ He berated himself. Wiping off his confused expression, he asked nonchalantly:

"You know Snake?"

Conan glanced worriedly at the black kid - Kaito was sure he was no ordinary kid by now; a shrunken teen like tantei-kun, maybe? - who was looking calculatingly up at him.

"He is already in danger. It will be better if he knew."

_Know what?_ Kaito restrained himself from shouting the question. Their reluctance was starting to unnerve him. He willed his body to casually stand there, waiting for tantei-kun to speak up.

Conan took a deep breath.

"We think.. That Snake is from the Black Organization."

"The Black Organization?"

"It's the Organization that turned me into a kid, and the one we're trying to bring down."

It was Kaito's turn to reel in shock. Tantei-kun was shrunk because of an organization, and this organization was also the one which had killed his father and was now targeting him? His mind went spinning as he tried to process all of it. Snake belonged to a much bigger and stronger group than what he'd thought.

"I see this is... complicated." he slowly spoke, relieved that his voice stayed steady. Inside, his heart was thumping wildly as if it wanted to escape from his ribcage.

"More than complicated." Conan replied. Sighing, he closed his eyes, his eyebrows furrowed into a frown. Then, his eyes flew open again as he suddenly asked, "Can you help?"

His thumping heart skipped a beat.

"Help?" he asked. He had a bad feeling where this conversation was headed. "Help what?"

Conan looked at him squarely in the eye.

"Can you help us destroy the Black Organization?"

_Bring down the Black Organization?_ Were they kidding him? He knew from his tone of voice that the detective was serious. How, though? How could he have a chance against a whole enourmous syndicate? There was just no way. He was only a high schooler!

But tantei-kun was, too...

Conan seemed to have taken his silence for a no.

"If you don't want to-"

"Nonono," Kaito cut in quickly. "I can. I can help."

Conan raised his eyebrows. He probably had been half expecting him to decline. No. For tantei-kun and his dead father, he will never decline.

He knew, however, that he had put himself on very dangerous grounds. Not to mention the risk of getting killed by the syndicate, his real identity was also on the line. Should he tell those two, or should he help them only as Kaitou KID? He gave a low whistle as he contemplated about the matter.

At his whistle, a pure white dove flew out from under his cape and perched on his shoulder. He stroked its feathers for comfort.

"..The policemen will catch up soon, we can't keep up this talk for long." he said with false cheerfulness. Whatever decision he was going to end up with, he knew he wasn't going to have one now. He was not ready, not yet. "Let's meet again some other time."

He moved the dove from his shoulder to his wrist.

"His name is Raphael. He'll tell you when and where we should meet." Raphael looked at them sideways with an eye and cooed softly. Conan glanced at him for a moment and nodded.

He put Raphael back in and jumped on the railing. At the last moment, he remembered the jewel and tossed it to the detective. He caught it and looked at him questioningly.

"It's not Pandora." Kaito answered to his look. "I checked."

"How-"

"I'll tell you about it later, okay?"

And if he had the courage, probably a lot more... He hoped they couldn't sense his nervousness underneath his pokerface.

"For now, ja ne!"

Flashing them a weak, faked grin, he took off into the night sky.

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><p><strong>I know the organization that fights with KID in 'Magic Kaitou' is not the BO, but to weave KID in the story I had to make some tweaks. ;)<strong>

**For some reason I said 'mice' instead of 'mouse' in the previous chapter... Dunno why :P To prevent confusion I said 'mice' here as well. ****I'll fix them later on, I think.**

**I also found that I switch povs around a little more than I feel comfortable about in some parts. I noticed this about halfway through so there are less pov changes later on. ****Is it good the way it is, or should I fix the pov on a single person until a line break or at some other kind of interval?**

**Reviews always help! :D**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello people! As always, thank you for your reviews, follows and favs! :D**

**So sorry for the late update! It's a bit shorter than the others, I was taking too long on writing so I felt I should give you something.**

**Happy reading! And reviews!**

**Disclamer: me no own Conan. Nope. *shakes head vigorously to prove point***

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><p>Morning came slower than ever. After returning the jewel to Suzuki and Nakamori keibu, Conan came home and flopped down on his mattress only to find that he couldn't sleep. Adrenaline rushed through his body every time KID's words replayed themselves in his mind, and his heart thumped at the reminder that danger was always lurking in every corner.<p>

Needless to say, next morning found Conan yawning again and again with dark bags under his eyes. He emerged from the bathroom, his head still foggy, to find Ran up and about. Damn his child body(though to be fair, Ran looked rather sleepy as well).

"Oh, good morning, Conan-kun." Ran greeted him. "You're up earlier than I expected."

"Good morning, you're up early too," Conan replied. "Why's that?"

"Oh, I'm going shopping with Kazuha-chan today."

"Kazuha-neechan? Is Heiji-niichan coming too, then?"

Ran shook her head. "She said she didn't ask him, they had a fight a few days ago."

Conan slightly drooped in dissappointment. He needed to tell Hattori of the recent events, then try to get them off his mind. He ran a hand through is rumpled hair, frowning. Come to think of it, he did have a reason for waking up early, though he couldn't remember what..

_Oh crap-_

His eyes flew open, suddenly wide awake. He had forgotten that he had planned to meet Akai-san at 9! He frantically turned to check the clock. It was half past ten. He groaned. How could he have forgotten? He began to dash to his room to phone Akai when he heard someone knocking the door.

"Come in, it's not locked!" Ran called.

The door opened and Akai walked in, his expression neutral as always. Conan hurried over to him.

"I'm sorry, I overslept-"

Akai shook his head slightly, cutting off his apology.

"It's fine, we're not short of time. I assumed you would be tired and decided to wait downstairs as I had nothing else to do, but the high-schooler downstairs wanted me to fetch you."

Ran stepped a few steps closer.

"Um, hi, Akira-kun," she said rather tentatively. Conan glanced at her, feeling a bit sympathetic. Only one 'child' except for Haibara behaved so differently from the other children, and Akai gave off a natural aura that made people difficult to approach him.

"Hello." Akai replied, and tilted his head slightly, indicating that she should continue.

"Is the high-schooler who asked you to come up here named 'Toyama Kazuha'?" she asked.

"Neither of them gave me their names." Conan perked up. Ran looked surprised.

"'Neither'?"

"Yes, there were two of them, one male and one female. They had an Osakan accent."

Ran brightened and smiled as she started to exclaim, "So they did reconcile with each othe-"

"You go up, you're the one who needs ta do the shoppin'!"

"Why do _I_ have ta go up, _you're_ the one WHO MADE US COME 'ERE EARLY!"

The shouts resounded from downstairs. Akai glanced at the door for a moment. "I had to remind them that I was still there. Twice." Ran laughed awkwardly while Conan glared axe-eyed at the door, mouth twitching.

"Fine, _fine_! I'm goin' up!"

Conan sighed, preparing his ears for maximum volume. He heard the annoyed footsteps stamping up the staircase, and soon, Hattori Heiji slammed open the already ajar door.

"Oi K- Conan-kun, what's taking you so long?!" he spared a glance at Ran, who had almost punched him in surprise. "Oh hey, big nee-chan. Little nee-chan's not here, I see." he turned back to Conan, his voice turning back on full force. "I called you _five times, _ya know? The phone was invented ta be answered, NOT IGNORED!"

Conan winced. He must have slept through them all! "I didn't know, sorry-"

Hattori ignored him and went on, this time turning to Akai, "And you, kid, I ordered you ta go and get him!"

Conan almost choked, half in shock and half in laughter.

"You _ordered him_ to get me?"

Akai merely looked up at Hattori with an unimpressed expression while Hattori stopped for a moment, confused and irritated.

"Ordered him, told him, whatever, he's a kid, kids need ta use their expendable energy- _What_?!" he asked angrily. Conan was trying very hard not to laugh.

"Nothing." he said, still grinning. He could imagine Hattori's face when he found out he'd treated an adult ten years older than him like a kid..!

Hattori was about to question him further, but he was interrupted by Kazuha's shout: "OI, WHAT'S KEEPIN' YOU UP THERE THIS LONG? I ASKED YOU TO CHECK ON RAN-CHAN!" He balled his fists, his face getting reddish, and yelled back, "I'M TRYIN' TA HAVE A CONVERSATION HERE, BAKA!" Conan glared at him. All that shouting was definitely not good for his ears.

"Calm down, kiddo." Akai said, seemingly undisturbed by the noise. Hattori stared down at him, momentarily dumbfounded into silence.

"You? Are calling me? A kiddo?"

Akai looked almost lazily up at him.

"Well, you did say that _kids_ had the _expendable energy_..." he said. He glanced at Conan. A slight upward lift of his eyebrows was enough to tell Conan that Akai was amused as well, though probably not as much as he was. He once again failed to keep a straight face and sniggered. Hattori gave him a look, so he replied with a smug smile that said '_tell you lateeer~_'. The Osakan huffed, disgruntled, but complied and backed down.

"Fine," he grunted. "Big neechan, I'll take these two out to, ehh.. play, while you go and do whatever girls do with the idiot downstairs." Conan was silently glad Kazuha hadn't heard the insult. Ran, who had been dazed out of her mind with the noise and trying to follow the conversation, hurriedly put her senses back together.

"Ah right, it shouldn't take me long to finish preparing, please tell her I'll be downstairs soon." she faltered for a moment, then said, "Um, actually, can _you_ do it, Conan-kun?"

"Okay!" Conan said in his cheery kid voice, then sprinted downstairs, Hattori and Akai following him from behind. He quickly relayed Ran's message to Kazuha and ran down the rest of the stairs. Once outside, all kiddy energy left him and he stopped, put his hands in his pockets and waited for the others.

"So, where are we going?" Hattori asked, the irritation still remaining in his voice.

"My house," Conan replied. "We have something important to tell you."

"'We'? But of course, he's in it too." Hattori said, gesturing to Akai. "Shoulda guessed sooner. Is he like you, then?"

"Yep!" Conan said merrily, but didn't divulge anything else. Akai noticed this and glanced at him. Conan gave him a conspiratorial wink, successfully getting the message through. Akai raised an eyebrow at him, but didn't say anything. That was enough to tell Conan of his approval(or more like confirmation that he would allow Conan to scheme on while he simply kept quiet about it). The detective grinned- with the way Hattori was talking to the ex-FBI agent, he was sure to die of embarrassment by the time Conan told Hattori the full truth.

"So, which high school are you fro-" Hattori was asking Akai, but Conan cut him off.

"I'll tell you the recent updates at my house," he said. "It's the safest place for us right now."

A few minutes later they reached the house. Conan opened the gates(with some help from Hattori), and they were in.

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><p>Kuroba was freaking out.<p>

He gnawed at his thumbnail, pacing furiously. One of his doves tilted her head and cooed at him softly.

"Yeah, I'm fine, I'm fine." he told her. In fact he was anything but. Should he tell everything? Should he not? What would happen? What if he messed up everything?

"Arrgghh! Why did I ever do that? I could have refused the offer, then choose to join after I thought it through, but nooo, you just had to say yeess! Bakaito!" he yelled at his reflection in the mirror. He whisked away from it and threw his hands up in frustration. "Oh, I'm using Aoko's insults at me now, how wonderful!"

His doves were now all looking at him concernedly.

"Don't look at me like that!" he snapped at them. His frayed nerves were not doing him any good. After a moment he sighed, taking deep breaths to calm himself down.

"Sorry about that." he apologised. They all cooed back at him. One of them flew down to him and perched on his shoulder.

"Hey Raphael." Kaito greeted the pure white dove. "What do you think I should do?"

Raphael cocked his head at him, staring at him as if to say, _don't you have a message for me to carry?_

"You want me to send the note, like, _now_?" Kaito asked him incredulously. Raphael tilted his head the other way. "And you want me to tell him everything?" Raphael straightened his tilted head. Kaito blanched.

"Nonono, that is a very rash decision! I can't risk something like that, what if I get sent to jail or something?" he ranted. He jabbed a finger at the bird accusingly. "You're not really having a conversation with me, either. It's just me talking and you acting whatever way you want!"

Said bird parted his beak slightly and waited.

After a short intense staring contest, Kaito sighed and relented, his shoulders sagging.

"Fine, I'll tell you in a minute."

His expression turned serious as he began to contemplate. Telling them his real identity could leave him in jail, or lead to a higher chance of exposure. However, when he thought about the drawbacks of not revealing himself.. meeting would be less easier, and having to be in full costume would be tiring and had a danger of drawing attention, not to mention the added labour of avoiding Tantei-kun's attempts to find out who he was. And would telling them really lead to exposure? He thought not, Tantei-kun had a secret of his own which he was protecting well from enemies...

Raphael flapped his wings impatiently.

"Yeah, all right, I've decided!" Kaito snapped at him. "I'll write the note and you can be off."

The bird looked rather smug. Kaito glared at him as he rummaged around for a pen and paper. "No thanks to you, you impatient git." he muttered.

The bird somehow looked even smugger. Kaito pouted.

"..I admit it, you helped, thanks." he said reluctantly. He finished the note and tied it to Rapahel's leg. Raphael let out a coo of excitement as Kaito opened the window for him.

"You know where this goes to, right?" he asked. The dove gave him a look, then took off. Kaito grinned for a second, but his expression soon turned to worry. He shook his head, trying to shake off his worries with it. Worrying didn't do anything. It was bad for him too. He should just wait for the reply and everything would be fine.

At least, he hoped so.

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><p><strong>And so it really begins..<strong>

**Did I write in-character? What did you like? What would you like to see later on in the story? Reviews are very welcome! Those and the faves/alerts guilted me into writing more of this story xD**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello. I'm sorry I haven't updated for a long while. This chapter is short, but I had to give you something after so long and cutting there seemed appropriate.**

**Also, next time you see me my username will be SkyWolf25.**

**Won't keep you any longer, go ahead and read :)**

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><p><strong>.<strong>

The note arrived just as Conan was about to go to bed. He heard the tapping on the window and slipped past the sleeping Kogorou. KID's white dove was waiting for him, a note tied around his left leg. He read it thoroughly, memorising the time and place before folding it and putting it in his pyjama pocket.

"Hey," he softly called the dove before he could fly off, "Can you take a message back to him?"

The dove waited, so Conan took that as a yes. He quickly scribbled 'Can Hattori come? He knows too.' on a piece of paper and tied it on the bird's leg.

"Thanks." he said. The dove cooed at him, then took off.

Flopping back on his mattress, Conan frowned. He could say the curt tone of the note came from the seriousness of the situation, but the place KID had chosen... it was obviously a public place. KID's white suit and cape would stand out in the crowd, and that wasn't considering how famous he was. What was the thief playing at?

Those questions and the conversation that afternoon swam around in his mind as he slowly drifted off to sleep.

-  
>(eariler afternoon)<p>

Hattori had recieved the information pretty well. After figuring out Conan's identity by himself, he wasn't about to be too surprised by anything else, Conan thought wryly. Upon entering the Kudo residence, him and Akai had told the Osakan about everything that was related to the Organisation. Well, Conan conveniently left out Akai's exact age, and the name of the agent who was 'killed' by Kir, so /almost/ everything. Akai had given him a glance, but let him and his prank be.

"So, nothin' from KID so far?"

Hattori asked after Conan finished telling him their recent encounter with the thief.

"Not yet. It's been less than a day though, so we'll be hearing him from, I dunno," Conan shrugged. "Two days? Three? It's a hard decision, but he also knows he shouldn't dawdle."

"Hm. Hope it's soon, I'd like ta meet him too." Hattori said. "Kazuha said she planned ta stay here for the weekend."

"Where are you going to stay, though?" Conan asked. "Ran and Toyama are probably going to share a room, but you came without notice."

Hattori froze.

"Err..."

"You really didn't think this through, did you."

"No."

Conan sighed. "You can stay here if you want." he said. He turned to Akai. "Would you mind?" Akai shook his head.

"Stay here with him... Not bad, okay!"

Hattori agreed. Conan glanced at his watch.

"I'd best be going, it's getting late. I'll come here tomorrow morning."

Akai nodded, and looking at Hattori, jerked his head towards the hallway."There are spare rooms next to mine." he said, and walked away. Conan grinned as he caught Hattori rolling his eyes, then set off to return to the detective agency.

-  
>(present)<p>

Conan found the reply to his note on the windowsill at morning. It simply read 'yes'. They were supposed to meet today, so Conan briskly got clothed, got himself a piece of toast, and left the building.

Fully awake and properly clothed, Akai was the one to answer the doorbell. Despite the current two residents' body age difference, Conan didn't find it surprising.

"You're up early." Akai commented as he opened the gates. Conan still had trouble opening them by himself.

"I should be saying that to you." he replied. He pulled KID's notes out of his pocket. "I got the notes from him."

"And what do they say?"

"Date and location for our meeting," he said, handing over the notes, "and Hattori can come."

"Good for him." Akai said. He paused as he read the note. One shared look was enough to tell Conan that Akai had the same questions he had.

"There's no use thinking about it now. Too many possibilities and it won't make a difference. And we need to leave."

Conan nodded at the ex-agent's words.

"I'll wake Hattori up." he offered. Akai gave him a wry look.

"Better you than me." he said.

"Not getting along well?"

"He was asking too much questions. I ignored him after a while and he got annoyed." Conan snorted in laughter. "Can't blame him because frankly I was being rude, but the probing and the noise was getting to me." his matter-of-fact tone set Conan off, and he barely stifled a cackle as he sauntered off to Hattori's room.

"I'll just splash him with water, he'll be up immediately."

"I advise you to wear earplugs before doing so." Was Akai's reply. Despite the matter-of-fact voice the tone was light. Conan had to laugh aloud at that.

After waiting for the spluttering but awake Hattori to get ready, the trio made their way to Ekoda.

"This is the square, right?" Conan said as he looked around. The square was fairly full of people milling about, carrying on with their everyday lives. "So.. we have to look for someone in a white suit and coat... or a guy in a t-shirt."

"I'm seein' lots of guys in t-shirts." Hattori complained. "Can't ya be more specific?"

Conan was about to quip right back, but he stopped when he saw Akai staring quietly in one direction.

"I think I've found him." he said in a low voice. Conan sidled closer to see where he was looking. There, walking towards them, was a young man in jeans, a black t-shirt, and a baseball cap. He hitched up the rim of his cap, and Conan caught bright blue eyes the same hue as his.

"Kaitou KID at your service," the young man said, "AKA Kuroba Kaito."

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><p><strong>And so they meet...<strong>

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